A toned down Guy Fieri went on the defensive this week, after New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells wrote a scathing review of the celebrity restaurateur's Times Square restaurant, Guy's American Kitchen & Bar. Appearing on the Today Show, Fieri contended that Wells had “an agenda” before he walked in the door.

Guy Fieri Courtesy of Food Network

“The tone, the sarcasm, the question style, I think we all know what’s going on here: he came in with a different agenda,” Fieri said.

Wells ate at the two-month-old restaurant four times before writing the review.

Today Show interviewer Savannah Guthrie pointed out that on Yelp, “a place where regular folks go on and review restaurants,” Guy’s American Kitchen has gotten an average of 2 ½ stars out of 5, which isn’t “exactly knocking people’s socks off.”

“At this point in time, at two months, not really expected to,” Fieri said. “We’re trying as hard as we can to make it right.”

Fieri acknowledged that the menu is large, and the food is all “made by hand.” He says he’s very involved with the restaurant, he wrote the menu, and he brought in his culinary team and did the training for the front and back of the house.

“People see me as a TV guy; I’m really a chef,” he said.

“To me, it’s impossible to come in and have a dining experience and have every single thing wrong unless you come with a different agenda," he said.